Add Category
Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter has been chaotic.
He's booted journalists from the site, changed rules seemingly on a whim, alienated advertisers and conveniently managed to get himself voted out as CEO.
In the meantime, Mr Musk's electric car company Tesla has lost almost 60 per cent of its value.
Here's a quick catch up on the situation as it stands.
Musk says Twitter is like a plane 'headed towards the ground'
In a late night phone call Mr Musk has defended massive cost-cutting measures at Twitter, which included sacking thousands of staff.
He says it's necessary for the social media platform to survive next year, due in part to debt payments tied to his $USD44 billion ($65.5 billion) takeover of the company.
"This company is like, basically, you're in a plane that is headed towards the ground at high speed with the engines on fire and the controls don't work," Mr Musk said during a Twitter Spaces call on Tuesday.
He said he's still looking for someone to replace him as CEO.
It comes after millions of Twitter users asked him to step down in an online poll he created and promised to follow.
"I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" Mr Musk tweeted.
"After that, I will just run the software & servers teams."
Since taking over in late October, Mr Musk's run as CEO has been marked by quickly issued rules and policy changes, which have often been withdrawn or changed soon after being made public.
Earlier this week he said he had "spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy" and trying to build a better paid subscription service for the site.
He said without the cuts Twitter might be operating with $3 billion in negative cash flow next year.
He in part blamed the $US12.5 billion in debt tied to his April agreement to buy the company, as well as the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes.
Some of Mr Musk's actions have also unnerved Twitter advertisers and turned off users.
Progressive research centre Media Matters last month found that half of Twitter's top 100 advertisers had stopped advertising on the website.
Companies like Chevrolet, Ford, Jeep, IT company Kyndryl and pharmaceutical company Merck & Co released statements about halting spending.
Mr Musk also sacked more than half of Twitter's workforce, released contract content moderators and disbanded a council of trust and safety advisors that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech and other problems on the platform.
It's worth noting that Mr Musk purchased the company after a complex process, which involved Twitter suing him in an attempt to force him to complete the sale.
Musk alienates shareholders at Tesla, his big money-spinner
Mr Musk appears also to have alienated investors at Tesla, his electric vehicle company.
There are concerns that Twitter is taking too much of his attention, which might have offended loyal customers.
And even more unnerving for investors, Tesla shares are plummeting.
Shares of Tesla are down 35 per cent since Mr Musk took over Twitter on October 27, which is costing investors billions of dollars.
Tesla's market value was over $1.1 trillion on April 1, the last trading day before Mr Musk disclosed he was buying up Twitter shares.
The company has since lost 58 per cent of its value, at a time when rival automakers are cutting in on Tesla's dominant share of electric vehicle sales.
A single share of Tesla that cost about $400 to start the year, can now be had for less than $140.
However, other major automotive companies, including Ford, Volkswagen, Chevrolet and Toyota, have also seen considerable declines in their share price this year.
Musk defends 'odd' Twitter changes
Mr Musk sought to defend some of his recent Twitter decisions on the Twitter Spaces call.
"They may seem sometimes spurious or odd or whatever," Mr Musk said.
"It's because we have an emergency fire drill on our hands.
"That's the reason. Not because I'm naturally capricious. Or at least, aspirationally, I'm not naturally capricious."
Mr Musk, who also helms the SpaceX rocket company, has previously acknowledged how difficult it will be to find someone to take over as Twitter CEO.
Talking with Twitter followers earlier this week, he said that the person replacing him "must like pain a lot" to run a company that he said has been "in the fast lane to bankruptcy".
"No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor," Mr Musk tweeted.
As things stand, Mr Musk would still retain overwhelming influence over platform as its owner.
That's because he fired the company's board of directors soon after taking over.
ABC/AP